Feb. 21, 2004

Finally! It took intense publicity by the Travel Channel, some precarious foresight by Steve Lipscomb and his World Poker Tour, and a major tournament title earned by an online satellite player but it looks as if Las Vegas is reconsidering the need for poker rooms.

Well, maybe.

At least some of the casinos that have poker rooms are seeing the light. Bellagio could to be adding 10 tables; Mirage is reportedly making room for seven tables and Palms is installing five. The latter should probably think about doubling that amount since their crowd is the young, hip generation that seems to be enthralled with poker.

Question to Ponder!

Is the latest poker craze going to create more poker players or more tournament poker players? This was our major concern at the beginning of this craze because even though they're both the same game, there's a big difference between being a winning ring-game player and being a winning tournament player. Some players have sufficient talent to succeed in both arenas but many cannot make the transition from one to the other. Everyone who has been hanging around in poker circles and knows the name players also knows many who have won big in tournaments but lost big in ring games and vice versa. What we really want to know is whether or not this tournament poker frenzy is creating any new live-action play.

Starting a Chip Collection?

While many people collect casino chips, not too many seem to be interested in limiting a collection to poker chips. The biggest demand, according to my impromptu survey on eBay, seems to be for tournament buy-in chips. Next time the chip collector's club (http://www.ccgtcc.com) comes to Las Vegas, we'll have to check it out and ask about the lack of interest in regular poker chips. I'm thinking this would make a nice hobby for someone who's traveling around the country (or world) and playing poker here and there.

Are You Being Cheated?

Reading poker forums and newsgroups, we note numerous questions about cheating. Interestingly, many of the questions pertain to good play gone bad; players who win the first couple of times out then suddenly run into a buzz saw; players who get beat on the river by one or more straight flushes or get beat by the same seat hand after hand. From what we can tell, cheating does occur. It's inevitable because it's so easy to do. The best advice is to keep copious records. (Cheats hardly ever quit because they think they can't be caught). You can report your suspicions to the online poker management. Of course your first response should be to leave the table because you don't want to risk losing more money. But make sure, before you do either, that you are not a victim of your own down swing in luck.

What Are the Odds?

If you're math handicapped and you still want to know what the odds are of winning with any two cards in hold'em, go to www.downloads.com and type in the words "poker odds calculator." Out of the 22 hits, at least four meet the criteria. These can be used for home games as well as online games and the nice part about them is they are free to try. Eventually you'll be asked to pay a shareware fee but if you like what you get, it's worth it. (Note: Though many sites offer a poker calculator, we suggest this particular one for a choice of items and because the site takes great care to make sure it doesn't misuse your download information.)

Take a Break!

One big drawback to playing poker is that once you get started you don't want to stop. I've seen people play casino and online casino poker for hours on end. Spring might be in the air, love might be in the air, anything might be in the air but these people don't know it. Their eyes are glued to the monitor, their fingers to the keyboard waiting for that next card. We suggest scheduling a must-take-break. Fly a kite, buy a new pair of shoes, go horseback riding, do some charitable work, read a (non-poker) book, plant a tree. Then come back, refreshed, renewed and ready to take on the world of poker!